Don't Poke The 🐻

So I won't bore you with the details BUT there is a bit of a debate going on in the city.

Specifically, this area of the city. 

And, I'm gonna keep it real, it's more than a bit.

Some people feel strongly FOR something to happen.

Some people feel strongly AGAINST this thing to happen. 

Of course, there is a bit of grey in there too.

I'm one of the opposers. I don't oppose the idea of what this represents, oh no. I oppose the current plan of how the city wants to execute the idea. It's an incredible waste of money, the current way this service works is not used by anyone (except the homeless) and will truly do nothing to help the people that actually need this public service (it has the potential to make it easier for gentrified neighborhoods to go shopping at an overpriced market). 

As one of many opposers, we got together to make yard signs that expressed our concerns.

A respectful sign with data points provided by the city itself. 

However, someone in the FOR camp decided that I, and many of my cohorts, didn't have the right to have an opinion that differed from their own (what is it about leftist extremists being as crazy as right extremists - but I digress). And so, our yard signs were stolen. What are you? Five? Take your toys and go home.

Naturally, you can imagine how I took this action (especially since the sign at my business was stolen too). 

That's right, I put TWO signs in my yard and made sure my security cameras covered the areas. And I put more up at my business. I zip-tied those suckers to the building. Take that you big babies. 

Did I stop there you ask?

Of course not. My dander was up.

So I did what any logical, sane person would do. I posted about the theft on NextDoor. 

If you are not familiar with NextDoor, it a way for neighbors to share information about going-ons in the 'hood along with bashing each other without doing it in person. You know, another online place for trolls.

I don't ever post on NextDoor unless I've got a lost cat or something like that (it's worked great to help me return a lost kitty to it's owner). And since this topic had the potential to go south quickly, I made sure that my post was very respectful. I posted the image of the yard sign artwork along with expressing my disappointment that a neighbor wanted to silence me and others. 

As you might imagine, some people went crazy. And I mean really crazy. 🤪

4K impressions and 150 comments in 24 hours. 24 hours! Most of the comments were supportive of the opposed perspective. And of course the for folks had their say too. Some of those comments were bit scary. 

After all that attention, a local reporter reached out to me to get more info about the opposed viewpoint. I told him that I wasn't the leader of the group and he didn't care. In fact, he wanted a less formal perspective. Against my better judgment, I agree. Well, he came to my business and filmed an interview. It wasn't too bad and, of course, one of my statements was taken out of context. The opposed group was pleased with my interview and a couple neighbors mentioned seeing it. 

Funny how those that attempted to silence me ended up having my concerns get a much broader circulation.

And that was that.